‘Humanae Vitae’: Still controversial, still church teaching after 50 years

Pope Francis blesses a pregnant woman after delivering his Christmas wishes to Vatican employees and their families during a special audience Dec. 21 in Paul VI hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano)

February 8, 2018 Ed Hopfner

The articles on this page are the first in a series on the 50th anniversary of the papal encyclical “Humanae Vitae.” Ed Hopfner, director of the archdiocesan Office of Marriage and Family Life, reviews the encyclical, and Dr. Mary Davenport writes on the topic of our modern medical understanding of fertility. The series will also consider a variety of perspectives, beginning with modern science, but also including cultural and sociological aspects, dynamics of the couple’s relationship, concerns about fertility, infertility and childbearing, as well as the theology which underlies the document. Articles will be posted on
catholic-sf.org as well on a special archdiocesan web page at sfarch.org/HV. Links to the original text of the encyclical also may be found on the page. The series logo is used with permission of the California Association of Natural Family Planning, which created the graphic for an upcoming conference. The conference website is
https://celebratehv50.com. The association’s website is
www.canfp.org.

In July 1968, not long after the Summer of Love in San Francisco, Blessed Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (“On Human Life”), sometimes known as the “birth control encyclical.” It was greeted within less than 24 hours by an unprecedented statement of rejection on the front page of The New York Times, headed “Catholic experts in strong dissent” and signed by nearly 100 Catholic theologians.

In the 50 years since the encyclical was issued it has remained one of the most controversial documents in Catholic Church history. Even Pope Benedict XVI thought that the encyclical could have been improved, since he said it failed to explain the “why” of the church’s teaching though Pope St. John Paul II later did so in his Theology of the Body. On the other hand, Pope Francis has repeatedly insisted that “we need to return to the message of ‘Humanae Vitae,’” most recently in his own apostolic exhortation in a follow up to two synods on the family “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”).

In his earlier groundbreaking encyclical on the environment, “Laudato si’,” Pope Francis reminds us that authentic human development “presumes full respect for the human person, must also be concerned for the world around us and ‘take into account the nature of each being.’” Care for the environment means care for each other, and our respecting our own human nature, the pontiff writes in the 2015 encyclical.

In particular, the Holy Father writes in “Laudato si’,” we must acknowledge “the relationship between human life and the moral law, inscribed in our nature and necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment.” We must recognize that “man has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will” and that “our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment.” Thus, the acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home.

In “Amoris Laetitia,” Pope Francis reminds us that “in a particular way, the encyclical “Humanae Vitae” brought out the intrinsic bond between conjugal love and the generation of life.” Marriage is ordered not only to the unity of the couple, but to a love that goes outward, most often in the bearing and raising of children. While marriage and childrearing are often challenging, Pope Francis encourages “the use of methods based on the ‘laws of nature’” since these methods “respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them and favor the education of an ‘authentic freedom.’” As a loving father does, he insists that “greater emphasis needs to be placed on the fact that children are a wonderful gift from God and a joy for parents and the church.”

What makes Blessed Pope Paul VI’s short document of barely a dozen typewritten pages so hotly contested? It makes several predictions - have the last 50 years supported or contradicted Pope Paul’s forecast? Is Pope Francis correct, that “the teaching of the encyclical “Humanae Vitae”… ought to be taken up anew, in order to counter a mentality that is often hostile to life…” Is “Humanae Vitae” still relevant in a culture of hookups and Tinder?

Blessed Paul VI begins the encyclical with the words, “The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships.” For this 50th anniversary, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone has asked us to look at both the encyclical and its teaching on love, sexuality, marriage, fertility and procreation, and the “serious role” married couples play in God’s plan.

This series will consider a variety of perspectives, beginning with modern science, but also including cultural and sociological aspects, dynamics of the couple’s relationship, concerns about fertility, infertility and childbearing, as well as the theology which underlies the document. I also encourage you to read the document itself – most estimates are that barely one Catholic in 100 has actually read it, yet it is short, profound, and well worth the time invested.

Ed Hopfner is director of the Office of Marriage and Family Life for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.